Malaysia and the Workforce of 2020: What's to Come?

WeWork, Equitorial Plaza

Thanks to technology, the world we live and work in today has changed dramatically, and the shape of the workforce is changing with it. Technology is enabling an increasingly mobile workforce. It’s not just employees who are mobile, the makeup of workers is also changing - dubbed the "gig economy."

Workforce is defined as people engaged in or available for work, either in a country or area or in a particular firm or industry. In this upcoming 2020, the trend toward a gig economy has begun, thus the workforce of Malaysia has shifted to 6 groups of workforce which are:

• Tech-savvy – More youthful generations grew up as digital natives, not knowing a world without the internet.
• Socially conscious – 70% of millennials think highly of companies that support social causes.
• Multitasker – Multitasking is the new norm, with a few workers utilizing an average of five devices at once whether at home, work, or anywhere in between.
• Ambitious – Many workers expect to be promoted every year or two.
• Job hoppers – 91% expect to stay with a company for less than three years.
• Boomerang employees – There’s no shame in their game for leaving a company only to return to work later.

Read also: 7 Workplace Habits for a Productive Year Ahead

Technology today is driving the trends in the world around us. Most of workforce 2020 forecasts a focus around the manner in which the average work environment will change as to demographics. As indicated by:

• Workers are anticipated to remain longer in the workforce in the coming years, which implies that essentially, five ages of laborers from assorted backgrounds will cooperate in community-oriented groups.
  
  
• Globalization and virtual workplace will likewise assume an expanding job in the changing scene of the working environment, causing progressively fluid shifts and streams of talent.
  
  
• Cultural diversity will ultimately imply that organizations should fuse a more extensive set of qualities than today. Businesses should profoundly reevaluate the majority of their internal interactions, particularly those including their human capital: specifically how to approach, deploy, develop and hold people.

In this way, you have to figure out how to be flexible as to guarantee that your business adjusts and flourishes. Explore more on what you have to switch to stay aware of the demands of the workforce that are as of now reshaping the business scene.

• Flexibility and Work-Life Integration Move to The Forefront
  So, as for employees to be committed and loyal to a company that leads to bringing their best results to the workplace, millennials are now looking further than job stability - competitive salaries, benefits, conducive working environment, and flexibility.
  
  Millennials are seeking work-life integration versus work-life balance. These employees are interested in careers that allow work and life to coexist and oftentimes blend together. Mobile plays a huge role in this by allowing employees to always be connected to work.
  
  No one wants to be chained to a desk all day. And thanks to mobile devices and Wi-Fi, most employees can work wherever. Most millennials expect this perk from employees. If companies need to saddle the monstrous potential of this future workforce, they have to begin combining the tools and technologies that empower their efficiency.
  
  
• Design Thinking
  Design thinking and sentiment analysis are utilized to develop in the workplace and increment employee commitment. Intranet-based interaction frameworks are currently the norm for plenty of organizations that see better execution comes about because of connecting with their employees through the social platform.

Read also: 2019 at Glance: Key Steps to Setting Up a Business in Kuala Lumpur

• Training is Not Just for On-Boarding
  Training should never be one-and-done process for our company. Employees at all levels expect continual learning opportunities from employers. While these young generations are all about convenience, connectivity, and functionality, thus they expect to learn and work a similar way that they entertain themselves – on the web.
  
  Providing them quick and simple access to a system where they can get the training and coaching they need on interest will support them (and your business) thrive in the 2020 workplace. Quality training and development programs as the most desirable quality in a workplace - yes, even higher than salary.
  
  
• Rise of Artificial Intelligence
  It has become the driver for a business's decision nowadays, and made our work culture look completely different to how it did a few short years ago. Companies are progressively selecting to apply workplace patterns with new innovations that enable them to streamline dreary tasks.
  
  Various startups are taking intelligent assistants, or chatbots, to deal with either its HR functions or for enhancing customer service. Chatbots deliver unmatched personalized learning and development for employees.
  
  
• Proliferation of Big Data 
  Data is progressively the main thrust behind business decisions, choices with respect to client experience, and all features of your product and business life. Having the capacity to bridle the intensity of the numbers is an extremely important skill today and it will just leverage significantly in the years to come.

The workplace is quickly changing - from the way we impart and team up to the advantages and perks that draw in and retain generations of workers unlike any other. Only companies that grasp these distinctions and plan appropriately will adjust and flourish in the workplace of 2020.

To stay valuable as workers, preparing for 2020 workforce trends should concentrate on building up a blend of innovation and interpersonal skills to traverse the elements of finance, advertising, operations, supply chain, and HR.

Cheers to the golden year - less complexity of working structures with the help of technology - which is less than 10 months away! Stay ahead and keep your eyes awake of any trends that are going to happen throughout the year.